A familiar face to Cedar Falls has found a storefront of its own on College Hill. Moo’s Bakery, the gluten sensitive, plant based bakery opened by UNI alumnus Maddie Palmersheim has found a residency between Sud’s Upstairs and Sharky’s Funhouse on the Hill.
After starting out by hosting their booth at the Cedar Falls Farmers Market in 2022, the growth into a storefront of its own felt natural to Palmersheim. The space that Moo’s Bakery is located out of now was formerly a bakery, and Palmersheim has been eyeing the space for a while. “I have this Snapchat photo saved to my phone of this space, maybe a year or so before signing a lease. I was like, this is going to be Moo’s Bakery’s first location,” said Palmersheim. “I thought it was a cute space, I thought I could make the most out of it.”
But, as Palmershiem has documented on Moo’s Bakery’s TikTok account, the work it took to make the storefront and bakery into what customers see today took months of effort. Palmersheim’s documentation of her first week working to clean and ready the bakery for opening amassed over one million views on TikTok. “I think I kind of looked at it through rose-colored glasses,” laughed Palmersheim. “My mom told me, ‘this is going to be a lot of work,’…Then, when you get the space, you see the details.” One of the first videos Palmersheim recorded while documenting her process of opening Moo’s Bakery’s first storefront was of her in a mask and rubber gloves, cleaning out the grease trap, which was filled to the brim with hardened grease. “I wanted to dive in,” said Palmersheim.
Soon after that, Palmersheim and her family took to scrubbing every single wall to get rid of leftover grease, and then painting over every single wall with fresh coats of paint. From ripping up floor tiles to re-doing a bathroom, Palmersheim and her support system accomplished a near total overhaul of the space in a little over seven months. For Palmersheim, the pride in her space for Moo’s Bakery could also manifest itself as anxiety and stress. “People know I’m opening up this space, I’ve committed, and I don’t know if I’m ready to be a storefront owner,” Palmersheim said. “I think for the first time in my life, more consistently, I experienced panic attacks, and wake up every morning with a racing heart. People are waiting.”
But, on the other hand, Palmersheim also noted there was a bit of romanticism associated with opening up her very own space. “I felt a bit like Princess Tiana,” Palmersheim said, in reference to the Disney princess. “‘Almost There’ was such a song for me, the video of her cleaning up her space for her restaurant…this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done so far.”
This dream has been a long time in the making. Palmersheim graduated from UNI in 2017 with a dream to pursue entrepreneurship and open a business of her own. But, before founding Moo’s Bakery in 2021, she felt stuck. “I was running in circles on this entrepreneurial dream,” said Palmersheim. “But, I did what I said I was going to do.” Palmersheim expressed frustrations with feeling siloed into one speciality or another, when what she really wanted to do was explore different routes for herself and pursue different creative ideas. “You don’t have to go down one specific route if you feel pulled in different directions,” said Palmersheim. “This [Moo’s Bakery] is the intersection between all of the things I tried, and without trying all those things I know I wouldn’t be here.” Palmersheim stresses to young entrepreneurs: take your time, and you path will illuminate for you.
Now, what was once a “some day” for Moo’s Bakery, is reality. Not only is Moo’s Bakery serving fresh baked goods out of their new storefront at 2223 College Street, but Palmersheim has also introduced fresh matchas to Moo’s Bakery’s menu, featuring lavender, a limited edition biscoff flavor, and a toasted marshmallow flavor to make an appearance on the menu after Valentine’s Day. Palmersheim has also announced that iced chai will adorn the Moo’s Bakery beverage menu this coming February. Moo’s Bakery is open from Wednesday to Saturday, with hours from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and extended hours on Friday and Saturday, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
